Emails released by 'hacktivist' group Anonymous show federal security firm to be dangerously arrogant and hopelessly inept

InfoWorld|Feb 16, 2011

Last week, in a straight-out-of-Hollywood B-movie plot, we learned that an obscure cyber security company was trying to take out a whistleblowing site on behalf of a Fortune 50 corporation, thanks to a shadowy group of uber geeks whose identities are as yet unknown.

But the saga of HBGary Federal, WikiLeaks, and Anonymous is still unfolding, thanks to yet more private emails released by Anonymous into the wild. InfoWorld blogger Woody Leonhard has a nice summary of all that has transpired so far.

Here's a quick list of the dirty dealings buried in those emails:

HBGary Fed (HBGF) was one of five companies that were pitching a proposal to take down WikiLeaks on behalf of Bank of America. Palantir and Berico immediately severed all ties with HBGF and apologized. As far as I know, Booz Allen and law firm Hunton & Williams have yet to issue a statement, while BofA claims it never heard of or saw this proposal. (Color me surprised.)

HGBF was also targeting top journalists, including Salon's Glenn Greenwald and former New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee.

Fill in the blank. I'm sure more revelations will arise before I've finished this blog post.

Want to peek inside those emails? Try this search engine. (I know what you're wondering: No, I am not in them. Not yet, anyway. Justin Bieber, on the other hand, is mentioned in two of them. Go figure.)